Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-07-12
CROQUET IS \ SCIENCE.
4 GAME FOR EXPERTS AND NOT FOR
CHILDREN AND PARSONS ONLY.

4 GAME FOR EXPERTS AND NOT FOR
CHILDREN AND PARSONS ONLY.
The Modern Cr"auet Ground Made OF
Dirt Rolled Hard aud L.,el-Hits Hard
to Nak---Fsw Ladies Attempt >cien-
tinc Play.
Even rs set Up on ordinary lawns, with
arches six inches wide, croquet is u game
that requires an amount OF headwork
fully rs great ~ IL needed TO play good
game of billiards. \ man who is "A very
PRIMARY shot can win from one who hits
with great accuracy il his headwork is de
.dedly superior Ofcourse, | am talking
now about the four hall game; the game
with one ball apiece is to the other what
auChre Is Ia whist.
If these things are true Of the game as
ordinarily laid out, they are multiplied in
force many times when the ground is a
perfectly level Sanded dirt floor, when the
arches are only onc-fourth of an inch
wider than the balls. and when both play
ers are skjllful enough TO hit an exposed
ball from end to end of the ground and TO
hide their adversary's ball behini
wicket with great accuracy.
The modern croquct ground is made OF
dirt rolled as hard as need be aud made as
level rs a billiard table. II is surrounded
bv a slightly raised border, SO that balls
do not 20 ont Of bounds. To prevent roll
ing the surface is sanded slightly. The
wickets are set firmly in block OF wood
planted ten inches deep IN the ground,
aud are of thick enough wire to resist n
heavy blow. The balls are of hard rubber,
IL inches in diameter. The wlCketS are
3 IL inches inside measurement. The
mallet~ Iuay lie Of any pattern or size that
suits the fancy of the player, but tho most
apieoNed style is one with a head ten
inches long having hard rubber ends Sc
cured bS "A steel band, and with a handle
about fourteen inches long and rough
ened So as To secure the grip. The best
of Them screw iutu the head and are per
fectly round. The ground il laid out
with two stakes OF iron less than all inch
in diameter. two wICkets ut each end and
two on each side, in n line with the second
ssch from the stake and with "A double
middle wicket set Croaswise. This middle
wicket consists Of Two arches like the rest,
ioined over the top and about ilfteen
inches apart. The hall must be sent
through both Of these at a single shot.
The only WAY To- do this. with n fIir pros
pect of success, is 10 take roquet from q
ball short distance from the arch and
yet in the Jaws of the first OF the pair Of
wickets and at the next blow 90 through
them both.
HARD To ACC. NPIISH.
To get in position ir any other way ia
next 10 impossible. bec.-use if the center
of the hall is as much as a sixteenth of an
Inch To one side Of Il line drawn directly
thrOugh the center of both wicketS you
cannot go through without a carrom, and
carroms. in croquet, are mighty uncertain
things for most people TO try. Professor
Charles JacobuS of New Brunswick, can
make the shot | have described at the
center wicket. and he introduced it with
great success in hast years national tour
nameut at Norwich. Ii is now called
after him-the Jacubus shot \ year or
two before that. while he was living 1T
Natawan. he introduced another carrom,
which has since been called the "Matawan
twist" His adversary's hall was in the
cage" n the double center wicket is
called His own was On the other side of
the corner wicket. almost in the jaws Of
it, and directly wired from the ball in the
cage and from the other balls. Mr.. ia
.obus struck the further wire Of the cor
aer wicket, carromed from it, going
through the arch, and hit the ball resting
with such apparent security in the cage
Ii Is not often, however, that games are
won by such sensational shots. Ii is
steady. accurate play and good manage
ment that tell in the long run.
| had often wished for a standard Of
comparisoh between persons who play
good ordinary game like myself and the
real experts made the comparison the
other day and il came out just as l ex-
pected. In nine ont Of ten games the man
who is called splendid player" by
his very ordinary competitors would
make about two arches playing with Mr..
Jacobus, or DR. Reed, or MIR. BotSford, or
auv other OF the cracks, " and the chances
are that hc would not get hold of the balls
at all during tho game. With weeks
practice and after becoming used to the
ground aud the narrow arches, he might
do better and bother the expert seriously,
but he would not bt likely TO win single
game the first year.
OUGHT TO Ri ABLE.
Furthermore no man has any business
to try TO play on such n ground who can
not hit a ball almost infallibly at a dozen
or fifteen feet. and who cannot, after get
ting a ball To play on, make the circuit Ct
the arches on an ordinary ground once ont
of three or four times at least. He ought
also TO be able To make the different sorts
Of roquets-to send the driven ball long
di stanca while his own only moves few
feet, TO send the two along together, and
to send his own further than the driven
ball. 1t is very handy, too. on occasion,
To be able TO make a Jump shot'-that
is. TO jump over ball you are dead" on
and hit another one beyond and in line
with il.
According to the rules in force in the
National association. bali is in play as
soon as it is placed at the starting point
ready for the first tap. 1t is usual among
the experts not 10 attempt the first wicket
Oh the first shot-the consequences OF
failure would be too seriOus-but TO knock
down to the far corner, where the follow
ing player i not likely TO get hold Of him.
The great thing. of course, is to get hold
of the balls send your antagonists next
ball behind q wicket, ana keep your own
balls well together, making wickets when
You can, and never allowing him TO get
shot except from behind wire.
W hen the game IL pIiHtu Ill this way,
il may he finished in ten or fifteen min
uteS, but if the players get hold Of the
balls alternately, and maze errors once in
a while, rs all merely human beings will,
occasionally, the game may last for seven
hours, as one of the games at the tourna-
ment did last August.
As yet but very few ladies attempt
scientific croquct, but there is no reason
why they should not. The short handled
malletS ncreSSitate rather ungraceful